16 July 2009 / AP, SEOUL
North Korea released new photographs of Kim Jong Il touring a factory following reports earlier this week that the 67-year-old leader has pancreatic cancer and less than five years to live.
Wearing sunglasses and a short-sleeved shirt, Kim appeared generally OK in the images released Tuesday night -- thin but no worse than in other recent photographs. He has grown frailer over the past year after reportedly suffering a stroke last summer. In some of the images, carried by North Korean TV and the official Korean Central News Agency, Kim was walking around a newly built tile factory, smiling broadly. The photos were undated, but KCNA had sent a text report about the tour on Monday without specifying the date of the visit. Other photos, however, showed Kim sitting in a chair during an outdoor briefing by factory officials while a soldier held a sunshade over him. Such images are unusual and could suggest his health may not be good, the Yonhap news agency said. But South Korea's Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said Wednesday that it is not the first time the North has released photos of Kim sitting during his field-guidance trips.
